80% of airline blankets not washed

You definitely will want to think twice before covering up with a blanket the next time you board a plane.As an undercover investigation by a few Beijing Times reporters has revealed, only one out of five blankets that are being used on board one of China’s biggest airlines is likely to have been washed. The rest are simply repackaged and sent back to the planes for reuse.Here’s what the reporters found at the Yingtailong Airline Commodity, which has been contracted by the unnamed airline for the laundry service:

…in a 400 square-meter factory, only three washing machines were functioning with around 30 workers.Every day the company gets about 3,000 blankets from airline companies with only 500 to 600 actually get washed.Workers check the blankets and only those found to have visible stains are washed despite the airline company having a contract to clean all.When asked why all the pieces are not washed, a worker explained “there’re only 3 machines, how could we wash them all?”

Here’s an idea: Let’s all play a part in ensuring everybody gets clean blankets on the next flight. Soil your blanket before you get off the plane.